Allegiant Air ending Orlando flights from ILM

By Kate Elizabeth QueramKate.Queram@StarNewsOnline.com

Tuesday

Jan 15, 2013 at 6:23 PM

ILM officials will try to find a replacement non-stop service carrier

Citing insufficient bookings, Allegiant Air will pull its non-stop service to Orlando from Wilmington International Airport, effective next week, officials announced Tuesday evening."We just didn't see the demand there that we needed to see to keep the flight going," said Jessica Wheeler, a spokeswoman for the airline. "We go where the demand is and if we're not seeing the demand, then we're going to use those resources elsewhere."Allegiant Air, a Las Vegas-based airline, had flown from Wilmington since April 2008. The airline is a niche corporation that provides low-cost flights for travelers while also selling vacation packages that include add-ons like rental cars, hotel rooms and tickets to theme parks.The last flight will leave Wilmington on Jan. 23, Allegiant said.Orlando is the airport's second most popular destination, but Allegiant represented a miniscule portion of the terminal's passenger traffic – roughly 1.5 percent of the estimated 800,000 ticketholders who pass through the building each year. The airport will lose a minimum of $64,000 in revenue via the airline's landing fees, a similarly small fraction of the facility's $6.8 million budget, said Jon Rosborough, airport director.The company outsourced the majority of its labor, mostly part-time positions staffed through an out-of-state company, Rosborough said.Airport officials will approach the remaining airlines – US Airways and Delta – to see if adding a non-stop Orlando flight is an option, but Wilmington residents can still travel there via multi-stop routes."They can go through Charlotte with US Air, or through Atlanta with Delta, which is the way it always was prior to 2008," Rosborough said.Allegiant will offer a full refund to customers with existing reservations for flights after Jan. 23."Anyone who is booked past that date is going to be contacted by our customer care center," Wheeler said. "The contact comes through email, so we do want to make sure that customers are checking their spam folder and their email for that contact from us."

Kate Elizabeth Queram: 343-2217On Twitter: @kate_goes_bleu

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